Discussion: Razer City of Heroes Questions & Answers

So, was the 'what to do with your clone' portion of the new Dark Mirror arc a preview of what to expect out of the Alignment System?

Just no to more patrons, hero or otherwise. If vills can use APPs now, there is no reason to add more pools that are of limited concept usefulness. This is why I posted some alternatives for those who find it a balance issue, such as an arc that unlocks them.

I'm not in the need of new PPP's or AT's, all i want are better animations.. QoL stuff.

But even more then that, i want some dev/PR dude pay some attention to European players.

Two separate things I’d like to comment on…

On the Manticore PPP vs “teaching a player to shoot an arrow” thing… at the end of the day, I think it’s because it’s an MMO not a single player game. Which means, the world is based on key signature characters, made by the devs, and they are and ever will be the toughest things out there in the stories they write. Most of the arcs are about you being “the new guy”, and barring a few obvious ego boosting arcs (cf A Hero’s Hero), the stories are about “What you do while the A-Listers are busy somewhere else.”

Thematically, it’s easier to fit it what Positron, Manticore, etc… is doing, story wise, in order to bring in a new arc, storyline, Issue, expansion, than to write in “This is how YOUR hero changed the world.”

Or, put another way, if this was Marvel, I’d EXPECT the world to revolve around Thor, The Avengers, Spider-Man, and you tag along, or if this was DC, it revolves around Batman, Superman, Wonder-Woman, etc… CoH just has its mythology made up for the game in that, before CoH, there was no Positron, Statesman, Recluse, Ghost Widow, but it’s basically a made up Marvel or DC universe.

Sure, you can have an important part in it, but what are people going to read about in the next release? (Your character name) that the devs have no idea about the background, powersets, etc… and come up with a suitably universal line, progression, powers in the story?… or base it off their own characters story and powers wise. If that’s dev ego patting, they deserve it for making this great game. Try and play a Marvel MMO, say, and it not being based on Spider-Man or whatever.

Sure, in your mind, you’re a better web-spinner than Spider-Man, but, if you play a Marvel MMO, expect the “THIS web spinning power can only be learned from Peter Parker.” makes sense, it can be written tightly, and for many of us, it’s cool to learn from a known character. Switch Spider-Man with Manticore, and you have the same thing here.

I’m sorry you’re not the main focus of the game, story or powers wise, and I truly am, but that’s the downside of an MMO. It’s probably really hard to code. Single player games can be more centered on you personally, and can have a story arc that matches that, say, Neverwinter Nights, because they KNOW it’s just you and your sidekick adventuring. Powers wise, for (I’ll risk putting a number to it) but for 95% of us, a signature Hero or Villain AV needs a team to take down, because they are THAT much above us. I happy some people can solo 8 of them at once, but, the devs have to and should cater to the majority, and many of us get our butts kicked even with a team of 8.

Thematic PPP, hero or villainside are cool, just for roleplay reasons, fun factor, and some of us don’t need to be center stage. And if you do, pretend you are doing the Manticore arc, and, in your mind, you’re teaching HIM how to shoot the bow, and ignore those word things. And, you get access to the power as you teach him the basics, just as a timing-wise coincidence.

Or, put the whole darn thing to rest, I’d say match APP powers to a PPP, and just have PPP powers have a signature uncopy-able effect, like an Arachnos and Freedom Phalanx holo-icon appear, for those of us that enjoy the story, and you don’t need to ruin your hero image that you had to get “instructions” from Manticore. You get the power, we get the story, everyone is happy.

Now, on to topic 2…

It was said earlier (and the quote feature won’t let me get that section for some reason, but I’m old and these board things frustrate me) that many MMO have gods sullying the lore of the game, well, worship is part of life and game.

Whether it’s secular (if I have the word right, I’m English Second Language… I mean non-religious worship), like worshipping movie-stars, scientists, activists, politicians; or religious (pick one), or personal (pick a friend / family member you want to emulate), worship tends to happen for a lot of people. Sure many of you are probably fiercely independent but I have no problem admitting that myself, and probably many others are followers, and I’m ok with being Stateman’s sidekick, etc…

Godhood is not as clear cut as some might think either. If we went back in time, with our aircraft carriers, and modern medicine, and cell phones, and 70+ year life spans, we’d be gods to 20 YO life expectancy cavemen.

There’s also a lot of thematic precedence in media. In Stargate, Gua’Ould (? spelling) are just 1,000+ year old parasitic slugs, in a body, and they fly around in pyramid shaped space ships. Knowing what they are, from the series, I still consider them gods in the AD&D (showing my geek roots, sorry) sense of the word, as would most primitive worlds.

And, especially from a super-hero standpoint, there’s a lot of godlike characters, or power origins that have been popularized in both mainstream comic books. In Marvel, Thor is an actual God of Thunder. The Eternals (from the 70s, not sure if they were remade) were aliens that happen to be worshipped and they became the Greek Gods. Ghost Rider got his power from an evil god/demon. For DC… Wonder Woman (in some of her many origins) has her powers from the Greek Gods. Captain Marvel also have godly origins to his powers. I’m sure if Green Lantern landed on a primitive planet, he’d be considered a “god”, and so on.

So, godly Lore, is common both here on real earth, in movies, in comic books and in MMOs. So, common things being common, of course they’ll put a godly Lore to it. Now, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. Just like the person in topic #1 not liking his hero not being central, you have every right not to like it and tune out those elements.

But, CoH being a business, they should, business sense wise, cater to what people like the most. Hopefully, for your sakes, they can do it in ways in which you can still enjoy the game. But, godly Lore, and you being an important side kick instead of the mainstay, makes sense to me to get the most people interested as well as being an easy way to overcome hurdles for the stories, powers, and updates of an MMO.

DISCLAIMER = I’m in my 40s, not primarily English speaking, and going through some translation issues most likely. It’s not my intention to pick on, or ridicule, or insult, so if it comes out that way, I do apologize. Treat anything offensive as language or crotchety old man origin, and not anything personal. You have every right to dislike any part of the game, “common” or not.

Fiery_Redeemer, I want to be the first to say that you have an awesome arguement on all accounts. Don't worry about your english, it was almost flawless and easily understandable. Your arguements themselves are well supported and well wrtitten. I am sure that even people who disagree with you will have to at least admire the strength of your arguement. All-in-all, EXCELLENT.

Positive Reputation Point from me to you!

I think her answer pretty much comes down to "We'll tell you when we're ready", so...patience.

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